Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Today I am wearing a new outfit for me. It was a hand-me-down from someone I know and it fits me perfectly. It is a pleated skirt with matching short sleeve light weight sweater top with a tye belt that is made of the same fabric as the skirt. The skirt is white with bright orange and pink blobs on it. The sweater is a matching orange color. I guess I would have to go with a bright pastel orange. It just so happens that I have a pair of shoes that match the orange perfectly. $2 walmart clearance shoes I got my junior year of high school. Yeah...in your face people who say to get rid of things if you don't wear them for over a year. In your face!

I typically would never buy a skirt and matching top outfit and I would typically never buy something in orange...even though I have several times in the past. I think I have a worry of looking like a pumpkin. But this outfit is sooo perfect for work. I don't have to run around looking for a clean shirt that matches the skirt...like all my other skirts. They just go together. The shirt is warm enough for work, but cool enough for summer. The style of skirt is what I'm always looking for but did not own until this point. It's pleated and knee length and makes me feel young and cute. Which is odd, because I have a very sneaky suspicion that this outfit is verging on a teacher's outfit...and even though I am not sporting neon tropical fish, I still think of Mrs. T. Huh...I can't remember what T stands for now, except that she told us her name was like Tarantula...but that wasn't her name.

But I'm not worried if it's a teacher outfit or not if I wear it to work. At work I am not the Me that I know and love. I mean I try to be, but I am learning that at work you can't just say everything that comes to mind instantly...you need to edit your words and sentences. Probably would have helped if I had learned this in grad school.... oh well. I am truly working on thinking about what I say before I say it now and not saying everything I can say.

I also learned why you don't want your super skillz to be known by everyone. I had a higher-up, but not the highest up, who always calls me Lindsey, burst into my office and walk around my desk with out being invited in or waiting for me to acknowledge her. It sorta went against personal office etiquette. This wouldn't have been so bad but I was taking a short work break (I'm allowed those) and instead of going for a walk (too cold and rainy!) I was drawing a Tauntaun , which by the way, turned out AWESOME! And the only reason she came in was to ask me how to use part of Word, which was the second time this week someone has asked me for help on Word. Funny thing is I am no means a word expert. Both times people have asked me for help, it was about things I've never done before. This bursting in person could have totally figured it out by pressing buttons on Word until it worked...that's all I do. And when that doesn't work, I google my question and I almost always get a very simple step by step answer.

The same person stopped by my office later, calling me Lindsey, and asking my roll in the employee association, then wanting to know who the Treasurer was, and I thought about it and the Treasurer is named Lindsay. That's gotta be confusing for her. (There were reasons for the questioning that are not important to the story).

Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Nashville Marathon was yesterday. I think the real name is Music City Marathon, but I am not sure. This was Josh and I's 3rd year experiencing it, and the best one. The first year we didn't know it existed, until at 6:30am, after a long night of heavy drinking, we were awoken by cheers, clapping, noise makers, and a band playing outside of our window. When we looked out there were hundreds of people everywhere. That year was the worst because all we wanted to do was sleep in!

The next year we knew it was coming and we knew someone who was running in it, Calvin, my adviser. So we tried, unsuccessfully, not to drink too much the night before..and were able to get up at 7 or 8...later than I had wanted. We had also planned to sit outside and drink mimosas and have friends join us. That didn't happen. We did sit outside and we had bagels and coffee from Bongo Java, the coffee shop next door...but we lived in a big cheering spot and so we couldn't sit on our porch and watch, but had to stand up by the street if we wanted to see Calvin...which we didn't. He's pretty sneaky.

The Marathon goes from about 6:30 to 11:00...so that's a long and early time to stand around and clap.

This year we woke up only 30 min. later than we wanted and made it to my friend Ayla's place just in time to see the front runners pass. We sat on a bus stop bench and cheered everyone on. The runners really like cheering..and we were in a pretty barren spot and were the only cheerers. It was an important spot though because it was the 8th mile...which means you have come so far, but have soooo much farther to go. Calvin ran this year too, but we didn't see him this time either. Ayla saw some girls she knew and Josh saw someone he used to work with, and we saw Tamara and her uncle running it too! That was pretty awesome. Our hands went numb and swollen from clapping so much! Oh, we also saw our friend John volunteering and picking up the orange cones in the street after all the runners had past on one side (they run down one side and then eventually turn around and run back the other side of the road). We cheered him on too. It was a perfectly cool day, but then at 10am the storms rolled in and we rolled out. We went to Bongo Java again for breakfast and coffee. I petted a large dog there.

Back at home we took it easy and drank beer all day. Slowly though and didn't get drunk....just full. We watched Bones off the computer, read books, played WoW, played a card game, sat out on the porch and enjoyed the rain, and basically did everything we normally do, but in one day!

On the way home from the race we were listening to an NPR call-in trivia game...which you should listen too as well, they are quite hilarious. The caller contestant said he was sitting home in the dark because the power went out from the storm. I was like, Wow, it must be stormy all over the country because we are in a storm now too. (it was...thunder, lighting, monsoons and all week the news has been talking about tornadoes). Then the announcer guy asked the caller if the tea he was drinking was sweet tea, and the caller was all "Yeah! I am a Tennessean man." and Josh and I, were like...what if it's this storm he's in!?!?! Then, later the announcer said that the guy was from Murfreesboro, which is where Josh is going go to school and so IT WAS the storm we were in that took out his power! We still had power when we got home which was good.

I've noticed that when Ackbar coughs up a hairball, he will walk around meowing at me in a more insistent manner than normal and won't leave me alone. Then, when I notice the hairball and clean it up, he stops. I think he doesn't like his hairballs laying about as much as I don't like it. Which I appreciate very much. I never get mad at him for them because they are not his fault.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Well, it's been a while, and I have lots to say. Sometimes I need to take a break to gather up stories, especially since Josh and I don't see so many interesting people any more. We are slowly working towards becoming hobbit-hermits.

Back to my last post, I asked for ideas for creative Tramp Stamps. I did receive a few ideas too! I talked to Josh about it and he came up with the word TRAMP or the word STAMP as the tattoo. Because these would be ironic. Then we came up with a tattoo of a character in the World of Warcraft, Auctioneer Stampi, because his name is Stampi...like stamp. And he would be opposite of sexy, again...ironic.

Next someone gave me the idea of having a Monkey with his arms spread out wide as a tramp stamp. I'm not so sure this would work because I fear and detest all monkeys unless they are in the zoo. And even then I only like the cute black ones that play and are not very big.

The final idea is one of an iron rod, so that when I am old old old and not a cougar, the iron rod will give the guy inspiration of what he needs to be like. I see major flaws in this idea though. One, when I get old my skin will get all saggy, and so will the iron rod. Two, I think getting a tat of a hot naked chick doing another naked chic would probably be better inspiration than something that looks like the Lead Pipe from Clue.

Well that's enough of that. After thinking about how wrinkly my tramp stamp may get when I'm old, I decided not to get one.

Yesterday we went to Nashville's Earthday celebration. It was a lot of fun walking around and seeing all the different booths and conservation groups are in the area. I got overwhelmed in the end though. Everyone has a cause and they are all important, but I can't give myself to every cause, and even yesterday I was giving 5 min. and serious thought to each one and I got sooo worn out. I don't know what cause is my own cause though....I am an environmentalist, but I am a lazy one, and I with my work and all, I'm getting burnt out on saving the earth. My favorite one was a not-for-profit that bought up land for preservation. I asked the guy what sort of arguments to they get for what they are doing...like if we make all the unused land in the US preserved, then where will the humans live? He got all preachy on me, but I wasn't offended...I just wanted to know. That's one thing I learned from my job is that there is always a negative view, and it's important to know what those are before you go supporting something blindly.

What else did I see there? I saw a lot of Hippies Light. Meaning, these were people who were hippies just for the day. You could pick them out because they were dressed like hippies, but had tons of hair product in their hair or spent tons of time on it. The big one that made me laugh was that all these girls were wearing hippie dresses that didn't require bras but, they were of course wearing bras and there were straps and bra backs all over the place. I sorta felt bad for them, it was pretty hot out and they would have felt so much better without that bra. I wasn't wearing one...but I wasn't really dressed up as a hippie...I was just wearing what would be most comfortable.

We saw Apache Relay play again. This will be our third time seeing them without trying too. They started in a Belmont dormroom. The big name that played at the end was Bela Fleck and he was awesome! He said that the people he was planning on playing with couldn't make it, so he called up some friends to help him out. It was amazing...there was a great fiddle player, a drummer, Bela Fleck on banjo, and a trombonist. The trombone added something to the music that you don't usually hear and it just brought the music up a level. Then they had this really cute woman singing some songs with them, and she had an amazing voice. It was definitely some of the best music I've ever heard.

Finally I want to emphasize how cute Ackbar is. We have a clothing basket that he loves to jump in and peep over the top at us in the mornings. He's saying "Get up! Play with me!" and his tail stick straight up over the back of the basket. Sooooo cute. Josh and Ackbar then chase each other around the house until Ackbar is too tired and lays down. But until then, Ackbar chases Josh just as much as Josh chases him. Ackbar has hiding spots that he leaps out from and attacks feet when walking by. Sometimes I'm an accidental casualty when this happens. I'm usually preparing for work or for the day when this happens. He doesn't use claws though, he's learning that they are bad, and so he uses his soft paws on my feet.

Oh and the other day I discovered that he likes it when I drape him across my shoulders! I've always wanted a cat that lets me do that.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Josh had a sickness where a sore throat turns into a sinus headache. I'm at the turning point.

Before there was grocery stores and general stores and before there was cat food, what did people feed there cats? I mean people who had cats for cats and not to catch mice? I'm thinking they fed cats human meats food, and therefore to have a cat as an indoor pet, like the Egyptians did. Then maybe that's why the Eygyptions had to think alot about the cats bc you had to be rich to have one as a pet and not as a mouser.

It's still expensive to have a cat now. It was 11 dollars for flushable wheat kitty litter. Swheatty cat litter.

I think a milk shake will taste mighty good right now. I might make one....with berries.

I watched bob ross paint a mountain today. He does so good. It was so realistic.

asdjas;lfdkja;ldskfja;lskdfjakdshf;lsakjfdlksajfdlakjdsf

asdlkfjasdf Every time I hit enter the curser goes to the wrong spot and it bothers me a lot. Then this happens. Josh and I made pancakes this morning, but we only had 2 eggs, so we made 2/3 a recipe and we ate them all. He even made baby ones and I ate them up. Nom nom nom.
Then we went to target and bought only stuff required to wash our cars and kitty litter. But I was feeling poopy so we played Canasta Caliente instead of washing the vehicles. Then we took a nap because I was tired still.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

I have several important things to tell you. I'm pretty sure you are better off not knowing any of them.

1. IT was 14 inches long!!!! Holy moly. I called Josh immediately to tell him. It's a record.

2. I think it's impossible for me to be a Hipster because I have a real job that pays me. THOUGH some would argue *Calvin* that I am over educated and underpaid for my job, but he has always had what I thought was overly optimistic views on what my starting salary should be. To be fair, I've always shot too low on what I thought I should get paid and am actually making my life goal right now. Either way, since I am satisfied with my job and salary that means I am not a hipster.
Other reasons why I am not a hipster:
-I do not wear ironic tee shirts
-I am trying not to bring the 80's back
-I have no tattoos
-or weird piercings
-When I go to a coffee shop, I do not look down upon those dressed well and with obvious money. I look down on everyone, money or no.
-I do not drive a Volvo (ha!)
-I go to a bible study, I'm not sure if this makes me not a hipster, but it seems like something very un-hipstery.
-My bangs are even across my forhead
-I have more realistic views on how I'm going to save the world...if hipsters even want to do that

3. Speaking of tattoos...the tramp stamp is growing on me. I've been thinking of getting one, but I don't know what. Something classy like doves. Gross, that was obvious sarcasm. Doves?!?! No way. Yeah, let me know if you have an idea of a classy tramp stamp 'cause I can't think of anything. Clearly when I say "I've been thinking of getting one" means I haven't actually put thought into it at all. I just have a list of things NOT to put there...like a bible verse or my dead children's names. I don't have dead children or live ones. The more I think of it, the more I am unsure if a classy one exists. I don't want the classic swirly design either... I want something subtley sexy.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

One of my favorite tv shows is called Cook'n Wit Big Fella the Hustlin' Chef. It's only on a local Tennessee channel, IQtv. It's hilarious. It's a big big big black man who cooks for you and shows you how to make ghetto food. So far I've only seen 2 episodes, and I suspect there are only 2. The first one made a spaghetti bake with as much cheese as I eat in about a year. This one he made chicken bake with "fukin asparagus broccoli hybrid called asparations!" He even whipped out the knife he got off of the TV that cuts everything and has a lifetime warrenty and cut some wood with it. That's my favorite part. We saw how much he was ball'n when he showed us his fridge with the freezer on the bottom, yo! My favorite part is how he didn't get to half the stuff you're suppose to do and they had to do it super fast in like 5 seconds.

Right now NCIS: LA is on. Tuesday night tv is the lamest of lame. I wish Josh wasn't working.

I made a soup for dinner. The same soup I made last week, but better because I tweaked it. I was able to do this because there was left over ingredients that were going to go bad. The soup contains onion, carrots, celery, garlic, one apple and one potato. All of it is cut up as small as I can cut it and still be sane, and then I heat it with olive oil (or butter or both) in my pot. I do the garlic and onions first until they are soft. Then I put everything in and heat it hot until it is soft 5-7 min maybe? While that's cooking (and not burning), I put together 2 tsp of curry, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1/4 or less Cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp (more or less) fresh ground pepper. I mix that all in and then add 2 Tblspn flour. Then I add cups of veggi broth and water (2 or more of each) and half a can of low fat cocunut milk. Then 1/4 cup rice. I boil for 25 min. Mmm mmm mm.

Ackbar had his balls removed this morning. I feel bad for him. He's staying the night there and I miss him. He is never really annoying and he is entertaining. He likes to gently nibble on big toes when you're asleep.

I've been running an 11 min mile on the treadmill. Today I ran outside. I'm told that 8 laps is a mile and I could only do 7 running! Running in real life is soooo much harder! But I'm working on my tan at the same time...so that's good.